Team:Braunschweig/Safety

From 2013.igem.org

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<p>View our safety form <a href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013/9/91/Safety_Form_Braunschweig.pdf">here</a>. Safety forms were approved on September 29, 2013 by the iGEM Safety Committee.</p>
<p>View our safety form <a href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013/9/91/Safety_Form_Braunschweig.pdf">here</a>. Safety forms were approved on September 29, 2013 by the iGEM Safety Committee.</p>
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<p style="font-size:14px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; border:none; color:#be1e3c; margin-top:100">Project Safety Concerns</p><br>
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<p>While designing our project biosafety was a very important topic for us. Thus, our project consists of regulation of bacterial growth or even better regulation of bacterial growth by themselves depending on each other.
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The two main parts we constructed contain an inducible Quorum Sensing dependent antibiotic resistance. The survivability of the bacteria is coupled to the expression of the antibiotic resistance gene which will only be induced when the other strain is present in the same culture broth or if synthetic autoinducer is added. If one strain is eliminated, the whole bacterial consortium dies; hence, we deemed that no other biological safety mechanisms are necessary yet.<br>
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For the future the regulation by an auxotrophic chassis is planned instead of the regulation by antibiotic resistances. Therefore the use of antibiotics and the respective negative implications of our project will be avoided.
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<p style="font-size:14px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; border:none; color:#be1e3c; margin-top:100">Laboratory concerns</p><br>
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<i>Guiding principle: Avoid hazardous chemicals, biological material and situations if possible!</i><br><br>
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<p><b>Main risks at the laboratory</b><br>
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To enable sterile work some ethanol was used to clean working space, with the advice that ethanol is easy flammable and only should just be used in small areas.<br>
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For our cultivations we had to add antibiotics to our media, which were handled with care because large amounts of them can cause harmful effects to health and could lead to resistances.<br>
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The major hazard during our lab work was the regular use of UV light and ethidium bromide, which is a DNA intercalating agent and can therefore cause cancer. Both  had to be used for the visualization of gel electrophoresis.<br><br>
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<b>Used organisms</b><br>
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The iGEM Team Braunschweig 2013 worked exclusively with non-pathogenic strains of <i>E. coli</i>, which means working with the lowest possible risk level. 
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<table class="table">
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  <tr>
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    <th>Strain</th>
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    <th>Risk group</th>
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    <th>Risk to humans</th>
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  </tr>
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  <tr>
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    <td><i>E. coli</i> XL1 Blue MRF'</td>
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    <td>1</td>
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    <td>No human pathogen, but may cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and may affect kidneys.</td>
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      </tr>
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  <tr>
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    <td><i>E. coli</i> Top10F'</td>
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        <td>1</td>
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    <td>No human pathogen, but may cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and may affect kidneys.</td> 
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      </tr>
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  <tr>
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    <td><i>E. coli</i> JM109</td>
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        <td>1</td>
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    <td>No human pathogen, but may cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and may affect kidneys.</td> 
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  </tr>
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  </table>
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Revision as of 13:37, 4 October 2013

Safety

linie rot 8pix hoch

View our safety form here. Safety forms were approved on September 29, 2013 by the iGEM Safety Committee.

grey line

Project Safety Concerns


While designing our project biosafety was a very important topic for us. Thus, our project consists of regulation of bacterial growth or even better regulation of bacterial growth by themselves depending on each other. The two main parts we constructed contain an inducible Quorum Sensing dependent antibiotic resistance. The survivability of the bacteria is coupled to the expression of the antibiotic resistance gene which will only be induced when the other strain is present in the same culture broth or if synthetic autoinducer is added. If one strain is eliminated, the whole bacterial consortium dies; hence, we deemed that no other biological safety mechanisms are necessary yet.
For the future the regulation by an auxotrophic chassis is planned instead of the regulation by antibiotic resistances. Therefore the use of antibiotics and the respective negative implications of our project will be avoided.

grey line

Laboratory concerns


Guiding principle: Avoid hazardous chemicals, biological material and situations if possible!

Main risks at the laboratory
To enable sterile work some ethanol was used to clean working space, with the advice that ethanol is easy flammable and only should just be used in small areas.
For our cultivations we had to add antibiotics to our media, which were handled with care because large amounts of them can cause harmful effects to health and could lead to resistances.
The major hazard during our lab work was the regular use of UV light and ethidium bromide, which is a DNA intercalating agent and can therefore cause cancer. Both had to be used for the visualization of gel electrophoresis.

Used organisms
The iGEM Team Braunschweig 2013 worked exclusively with non-pathogenic strains of E. coli, which means working with the lowest possible risk level.

Strain Risk group Risk to humans
E. coli XL1 Blue MRF' 1 No human pathogen, but may cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and may affect kidneys.
E. coli Top10F' 1 No human pathogen, but may cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and may affect kidneys.
E. coli JM109 1 No human pathogen, but may cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and may affect kidneys.

Our sponsors

linie rot 8pix hoch

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